Louvre Forced to Close as Pension Strike Continues Across France

The Louvre's employees block the Museum entrance during a demonstration on Friday. CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

With strikes over planned economic reforms raging on in France, one of the world’s most important museums was forced to close.

On Friday, the Louvre in Paris shuttered for the day after some 60 striking workers blocked the entrance to the museum. The union demonstrating at the institution was protesting a proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron to consolidate the country’s public and private pension plans.

According to a report by the French newspaper Le Figaro, strikers positioned themselves directly in front of the museum’s iconic glass pyramid. They called for “amplifying the mobilization and winning the withdrawal of the pension reform project carried by the government.”

Citizens have been demonstrating against Macron’s pension reforms, which could raise the retirement age in France, across the country over the last few months. With his plan, Macron aims to simplify and modernize a retirement system that has been in place since the postwar years.

According to the New York Times, labor unions oppose Macron’s proposal because it could cost them benefits included in their current pension plans. Recent pension strikes have also caused closures at the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Nissim de Camondo, the Palais de Tokyo, the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyonand, the Musée Rodin, and the Musée Guimet. Monuments like the Eiffel Tower have also been impacted by the nationwide demonstrations of thousands of people.

The pension strike today is not the only protest to take place at the Louvre in recent months. Nan Goldin and the opioid activist group P.A.I.N. staged a demonstration against the Sackler family at the Louvre last year, after which the institution removed the Sackler name from one of its wings.

A representative for the Louvre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.